This past few months saw me diving back into my drugstore products. Walgreens was having a buy one get one half off so I picked up several Boots No7 products. My mom loves the toner from this brand and since there wasn't too much information available, I took the plunge all for you! The Boots No.7 Stay Perfect Smoothing Eyeshadow looks veeeery similar to the Armani Eye Tint (review) that I've already talked about so let's see if it's a comparable alternative.
{THE BREAKDOWN}
A cream eyeshadow in a tube, the packaging reminds me of lip gloss. The doe foot wand is small enough for my lids and picks up just the right amount of product. The texture is light and similar to the Armani and Rimmel Scandal Eyes Eyeshadow Paints (review). There's no cooling feeling though. They do not feel wet like those other two do. It provides a sheer wash of color but that depends on the color. The shimmery ones needed three layers to build opacity whereas the metallic one was opaque in one layer. Once on my eyes, I don't feel them on my lids--I even forgot they were on and rubbed my eyes! Traditional cream eyeshadows in a pot aren't weightless on my lids like these new ones are, much appreciated!
My issue with the Boots version is that they don't seem to ever set. The eye color dries slowly in order to make blending easier but on hooded eyes like mine, I need things to set quickly so nothing moves and I can proceed to do the rest of my eye makeup. I lightly dabbed my swatches with my finger after approximately 6 minutes after application but my finger still picks up the product--the Armani and Rimmel remain budge proof even after rubbing the product with a clean, dry finger. As I mentioned earlier, the shadows are very sheer; blending them with my finger picks up and removes color rather than diffusing the edges. Blending with a brush sheers out the product like my fingers do but is more precise. The trick is to blend less than you usually do because they can disappear.
It claims to be long-lasting and crease-resistant but I find those are conditional terms. Without primer, Pewter Shine and Iridescent Purple creased and moved within 3 hours of application. Using UDPP helped make them appear bolder but blending was patchy and difficult. Bronze performed the best out of the three I picked but I experienced difficulty blending when used with eye primer. The best method to apply these eyeshadows is using a matching powder eyeshadow on top to enhance the color and make it last a bit longer than on its own. Using primer helped the longevity but made it hard to blend evenly so I wouldn't use it with these shadows.
{THE SWATCH}
There are six shades in the range. Pewter Shine is a grey base with predominantly gold shimmer. It's one of the sheerer shadows; the swatch above was without blending. Iridescent Purple is a purple base with multicolor shimmer. I was hoping for this to be a dupe of the Armani but it's much more purple and sheer. Bronze is a metallic bronze. This performed the best out of the three in terms of color pay off and wear time.
{THE BOTTOM LINE}
I would pass on these. I like my makeup to last all day and be simple to work with. Maybe it's my inexperience with this sort of formula but it doesn't fit in with my makeup needs. The colors aren't easily dupable so I'll give it that but I'd much rather pony up for the Armani or stay content with my Rimmel Eyeshadow Paints. Out of the 3, Bronze would be my pick but it's not a color I'd wear too often. These eyeshadows retail for $7.99usd for 4ml/0.13oz ($61.46usd per oz).
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